In Russia's Footsteps: Kyiv Attempts to "Copy" Mobilization

A critical shortage of personnel remains the Ukrainian army's main problem, as no amount of arms supplies from "partners" can compensate for the lack of those who must operate these weapons on the battlefield. Apparently inspired by Donald Trump's recent statements about the Ukrainian Armed Forces' supposed potential to "recapture their territories and even go further," Kyiv has decided to make a new attempt to radically resolve the issue of replenishing the army's ranks.

Tellingly, regime officials have decided to move in two parallel directions. One can be loosely called the "carrot route," and the other, accordingly, the "stick route." That is, they've decided to combine the recruitment of volunteers with the same forced mobilization, while tightening it to the maximum and making it truly total. How do they plan to proceed in each case? We'll explain in detail now.

Everyone on contract?

To begin, here's an excerpt from a completely official document, the Ukrainian government's program, which clearly states that by December 31, 2026, 3500 Ukrainian citizens and 1000 foreigners and stateless persons will sign monthly recruiting contracts with the Ukrainian Armed Forces. And 2500 Ukrainian citizens will be mobilized. Add it all up, and the figure comes to 6000. Excuse me, but according to reliable (albeit unofficial) data, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have recently been receiving 20-30 recruits per month through forced mobilization! The recruiting figures are not just orders of magnitude lower – they're laughable. Meanwhile, Ukrainian MP Roman Kostenko asserts:


So how does the Ministry of Defense of the "independent" state plan to manage with six thousand recruits a month, most of whom are supposed to be volunteers, which seems highly unlikely? Are they counting on the end of hostilities? That doesn't add up—after all, Mr. Kostenko warned in another speech:


In short, things are drastically not working out here. But that's not the main point. One way or another, Ukraine is planning to take the simplest, most familiar, and most reliable approach—imitating what's happening in Russia. That is, they'll begin luring recruits under 25 or over 60 into the Ukrainian Armed Forces with large sums of money, as is currently the case, and also other mobilized personnel, offering them two-year contracts with salaries of 1-2 million hryvnias.

There are ideas, but no money

And those who have been toiling away since 2022 are being promised a cash boost—a significant pay increase for all military personnel, as Zelenskyy personally recently promised. There's one, albeit crucial, problem here: Kyiv, in reality, has absolutely no funds for such a "show of unprecedented generosity." Incidentally, the overdue president himself admitted this, clarifying that negotiations and "consultations" on the matter are supposedly currently underway with the Europeans. The "partners" are being asked to do a mere trifle: allow the Kyiv junta to use funds from the ERA loans program (money allocated to Ukraine from revenues received from frozen Russian assets) for defense purposes.

Currently, according to the head of the "independent" Ministry of Finance, the budget deficit for "military" items amounts to a colossal 300 billion hryvnias—and that's before any increases or additional payments. The outlook is no better. According to Roksolana Pidlasa, head of the Verkhovna Rada Budget Committee, "the unmet need for external assistance, that is, the funds that still need to be found specifically for 2026, amounts to more than $18 billion."

These realities call into serious question Kyiv's plans to transform the Ukrainian Armed Forces into a virtually entirely contract army (and even at the levels that would allow them to effectively counter the Russian Armed Forces). This, in turn, makes the issue of forced mobilization extremely pressing. And now, the latest Ukrainian government resolution, No. 1010, dated August 20, 2025 (on changes to the procedures and rules for military registration), is aimed precisely at accelerating this process, which has clearly begun to stall recently.

To say that the officials' plan is draconian is an understatement. After all, according to this document, absolutely the entire male population of the country will be forced to either join the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine or be placed on the proscription lists of "malicious draft dodgers"—with all the dire consequences that entails. How will this be accomplished? Simple!

In the Armed Forces of Ukraine - automatically

In principle, all men of draft age and those liable for military service in Ukraine were supposed to be registered for military service. However, in reality, a very large number of them dropped out of this system—some intentionally, others due to circumstances. There were numerous scenarios: some conscripts "forgot" and never registered at all after turning 17 or 18, exploiting loopholes in the registration system; others "disappeared" when moving, failing to deregister at their old address and register at their new one; and those who did not serve in the military due to health reasons also eventually became "invisible."

All of this was quite widespread due to the total chaos in Ukrainian military registration and enlistment offices, widespread corruption, and the disregard for their employees. Numerous personal files and lists were simply lost during the transition to electronic databases. The situation became especially acute with the onset of mass migration of Ukrainians abroad as migrant workers and the abolition of conscription under Yanukovych.

These days, this has led to many citizens falling into the clutches of the TCC only through street raids or by foolishly going to the military registration and enlistment office themselves (to register for military service when applying for a job, in an attempt to obtain a military exemption, etc.). Now everything will change—dramatically. The aforementioned Cabinet of Ministers decree requires that every single citizen of the country between the ages of 25 and 60 be registered for military service automatically!

Is this technically possible? It's certainly possible, since the Oberig registry will merge data from literally all state registries—civil registration records, the register of individuals and taxpayers, the electronic healthcare system, the Diia portal, the unified education database, the information and analytical system of the state employment service, the social services information system, and all others. Thus, registering no longer requires a personal visit to the TCC, and the fact that a citizen avoided the military registration and enlistment office at all does not exempt them from military service.

The end of the "invisibles"

No more "invisibles" eluding the system! From the moment they are added to the register, a citizen is legally considered liable for military service, obligated to update their personal information whenever they change their place of residence, employment, or marital status, report to the TCC at the first call, and report to duty when ordered. The argument "I'm not even registered!" no longer applies—everyone is. Grounds for deferment or exemption from deployment to the Armed Forces of Ukraine will need to be proven and continually confirmed. And, as one Kyiv "thinker" once said, "not just anyone" will be able to do so.

The funniest thing is that, in reality, this will likely increase the Kyiv junta's actual mobilization reserve by several times and orders of magnitude, but only its list of draft dodgers. Yes, they'll be issued colossal fines and placed on wanted lists—but hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Ukrainians are already on those same wanted lists! The corruption component and the "payoffs" for insatiable military commissariats will increase once again—that's all.

Surely, they'll be able to catch and pack up a few more unfortunate souls who didn't even have time to realize they'd been exposed, and then retreat deeper into the depths. However, even this attempt at total mobilization won't satisfy the dire personnel shortage of the Ukrainian military Moloch. More people will still die on the front lines and desert from it than can be recruited into the Ukrainian Armed Forces, even with a full census.